If You Want to Accelerate Retail Media, Go Pick an Order
At this year's P2PI Retail Media Summit, I had the pleasure of hosting a panel titled "Leaving the Comfort Zone: From Siloed Solutions to Integrated Strategies." It was a fast-paced, high-energy conversation on how to bring omnichannel campaigns to life.
Like many panels, we ran out of time — and had to cut one of the most important topics: if retailers want to accelerate their role in retail media, they need to radically rethink cross-functional collaboration.
In an industry obsessed with "moving faster" — faster launches, faster monetization, faster innovation — there’s a simple truth we don’t talk about enough: acceleration doesn’t happen without alignment. And alignment doesn't happen unless people understand how the business works beyond their own role.
Retail Media Can't Live in a Silo
As Sean Barrett, CMO of Albertsons Cos., so accurately put it on stage: "Retail media must connect with merchandising."
He's right. If a retail media team drives massive demand for a product and the merchandising team isn't looped in — or the product's not in stock, or the supply chain can't react in time — then what are we really accomplishing?
Retail media success is a domino effect: when ads work, product moves. When product moves, other teams — from merchandising to supply chain to store ops — feel the pressure.
If you work in retail media and are laser-focused on campaign performance across your app, site or sponsored search, that's great. But if you don't understand what happens next — what’s triggered downstream in inventory systems, picker workflows or POS environments — then you're only seeing part of the picture.
Every Store Has a Personality
One of the biggest gaps in retail media today is the assumption that all stores operate the same. They don't. Every store is its own universe.
At one grocery location, foot traffic spikes at 5 p.m. because local beer is on tap and the store becomes a community hangout. At another, curbside pickup between 8 and 10 a.m. turns the parking lot into a high-velocity fulfillment machine. One store might excel at fresh and frozen; another might be a CPG basket haven. These hyper-local nuances have major implications for media effectiveness, campaign design and operational execution.
Retail media leaders need to understand these store-level dynamics — not just from a dashboard, but from the ground. Decisions about innovation can't be made in isolation from the real-world mechanics of fulfillment and shopper experience.
Collaboration Is the Growth Lever
Let's be real: There's no retailer in the country — or company in any industry — where the timing is "perfect" to take on something new. There's always a backlog. There's always another priority.
But what separates the innovators from the stalled is the ability to bring the right people to the table, quickly. Some of the best conversations we've had at Swish start when a retailer asks, "Who else should be in the next meeting?" That one question turns a single-function project into a cross-functional opportunity.
I can't tell you how many times I've had early conversations with a retail media lead — smart, capable, motivated — only to hit a wall when it comes to pushing forward. And then, a breakthrough moment comes at a conference hallway chat, where I mention our integration with a retailer's backend order management system — and I'm met with a blank stare. They've never heard of the picker app or OMS platform their store teams use every day. That's not their fault. It's a reflection of how siloed the function still is.
A Lesson From the Candle Factory
Back in my eBay Marketing Solutions days, our team launched a holiday campaign for Bath & Body Works promoting their famous 3-wick candles. The digital display team nailed the targeting, demand spiked — and then we got on planes.
Instead of celebrating those great conversion rates with leftover turkey legs, we spent Black Friday and Thanksgiving weekend inside a Kentucky distribution center packing orders. With a scanner on my wrist and tape in my hand, I saw what velocity really looks like in fulfillment. We were packing the very products our campaign sold.
That experience was a turning point for me. Real innovation happens when you understand how a digital click becomes a physical product in a customer's hands. It's a cycle — and you need to see it end-to-end to truly lead it.
At my organization, we begin every major partnership in the store. We walk the aisles. We meet the pickers. We even pick orders ourselves. Because when we ask a retailer to add a product to an e-commerce basket as part of a Sponsored Product Sampling campaign, we know exactly what that actually means for the business.
It's not theoretical. It's operational.
We’ve learned that the fastest way to move forward isn’t with more tech or strategy decks — it's by building shared understanding across departments. When teams know how their peers in merchandising, supply chain, and e-commerce operations win, they make better decisions. And they move faster — even if they fail quickly, learn and move on.
My Challenge to the Industry: Go Pick an Order and Understand the Flywheel
If you want to truly accelerate retail media — and drive more impact inside your business — here's my challenge:
Get out of your seat. Visit a store. Go pick an order.
See what happens after "Complete Purchase." Watch how your perfectly optimized ad or sponsored search result creates a real-world ripple — through pickers, merchandisers, supply chain, loyalty and store teams.
Because retail media doesn't live in a silo. When ads drive demand, product moves. Merchandising flexes. Fulfillment kicks in. Store ops respond. It's all connected. The better you understand that flywheel, the better you'll be at spotting great opportunities — and knowing who needs to be at the table to make them happen.
So next time you’re evaluating a new program or technology, ask yourself:
"Who else should I invite to the next meeting?"
That question alone can help your team move faster — and turn great ideas into results.
Transformation doesn't happen because someone approved a new campaign. It happens when we connect the dots — between media and merchandising, between marketing and operations, between promise and delivery.
So go pick an order. Talk to the teams. Understand the full journey.
You just might pick up a new way forward — and help your flywheel spin faster.
About the Author
Adam Stave is founder and CEO of Swish Brand Experiences. He is also one of the 2025 winners of P2PI's Retail Media Awards.
